All things freshwater: news, analysis, humor, reviews, and commentary from Michael E. 'Aquadoc' Campana, hydrogeologist, hydrophilanthropist, Professor of Hydrogeology and Water Resources Management in the Geography Program of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) at Oregon State University, Emeritus Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of New Mexico, Past President of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) and Past Chair of the Scientists & Engineers Division of the National Ground Water Association (NGWA). He is President of the nonprofit NGWA Foundation and the nonprofit Ann Campana Judge Foundation, an organization involved with WaSH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) in Central America. He serves on the Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership (GWP). CYA statement: with the exception of guest posts, the opinions expressed herein are solely those of Michael E. Campana and not those of CEOAS, Oregon State University, ACJF, AWRA, NGWA, GWP, my spouse Mary Frances, or any other person or organization.

Texas Agriculture Law BlogDon't let the name fool you - there are lots of water issues in agriculture and Tiffany Dowell of Texas A&M University does a fabulous job with this important Internet resource. Give it a read - I do every day!

The Way of WaterOregon State University Geography PhD Student, Jennifer Veilleux, records her fieldwork, research, and thoughts about transboundary water resources development in the Nile River and Mekong River basins. Particular attention is given to Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Laos' Xayaburi Dam projects.

Thirsty in SuburbiaGayle Leonard documents things from the world of water that make us smile: particularly funny, amusing and weird items on bottled water, water towers, water marketing, recycling, the art-water nexus and working.

This Day in Water HistoryMichael J. 'Mike' McGuire, engineer extraordinaire, NAE member, and author of 'The Chlorine Revolution', blogs about historical happenings in the fields of drinking water and wastewater keyed to calendar dates.

Watershed Moments: Thoughts from the HydrosphereFrom Sarah Boon - rediscovering her writing and editing roots after 13 years, primarily as an environmental scientist. Her writing centres around creative non-fiction, specifically memoir and nature writing. The landscapes of western Canada are her main inspiration.

Tuesday, 02 September 2008

The Great Hydrogeologic Question of Our Era: One Word, or Two, or Who Cares?

I was about to post an item about Tajikistan and its hydropower potential when I viewed Jared Simpson's 29 August 2008 Waterblogged.info post in which he talks about speedblogging and also gives me a mention or two (and a lot more stature than I deserve).

One of these mentions deals with the question of whether "ground water" should be one word or two. My esteemed opinion: it doesn't matter, as long as you are consistent.

I generally use "ground water" as two words, although when I recently looked at my 1975 PhD dissertation, I was surprised to discover that I had spelled it "groundwater". This I attributed to my dissertation advisor, the late Dr. Eugene S. Simpson. Gene was a master of the English language. In fact, he had originally planned to get a Bachelor's degree in English from City College of New York (now City University of New York), but World War II had turned him towards civil engineering and he got his BSCE.

When I started writing my dissertation, I used "ground water"; Gene changed it to "groundwater". When I tried to make my case, citing that since we spelled the following as two words - surface water, lake water, ocean water, soil water, etc. - we should be logical and spell it as 'ground water', Gene replied, "English is not a logical language." No response to that.

He then explained that much of the early work in ground water hydraulics had been done by German-speaking scientists and engineers: Philipp Forchheimer, Gunther and Adolf Thiem, Karl Terzhagi, et al. As is the custom in German, "Grund" and "Wasser" were combined to form "Grundwasser". Many of the early English-speaking water engineers and scientists adopted this convention. But many didn't, following my logic.

In retrospect I have flip-flopped throughout the years. Whether I used "groundwater" or "ground water" largely depended upon which ground water book I was using for my classes: Groundwater by R. Allan Freeze and John Cherry; Groundwater Hydrology by Herman Bouwer; Applied Hydrogeology by Bill Fetter (who used two words); Hydraulics of Groundwater by Jacob Bear.

I should also note that the National Ground Water Association and its flagship journal Ground Water, use two words, but Editor-in-Chief Mary Anderson prefers one word. I kid NGWA Executive Director Kevin McCray that in the logo, "ground" and "water" seem to be creeping inexorably towards each other. Does "ground water" in that logo look like one word or what?

One advantage to using one word: there is no ambiguity about hyphenation when it is used as an adjective. Is it "ground-water hydrology" or "ground water hydrology"? Again, be consistent. But don't ever write "surface and groundwater" when you mean "surface water and groundwater." However, "surface and ground water" is okay, as is "surface water and ground water." Ah, English!

There actually has been a fair amount of discussion on one word vs. two, including a brief article by A. Ivan Johnson (1986), which comes down strongly on the side of two words (the article starts at the bottom of the first page):

Circle of BlueCircle of Blue uses journalism, scientific research, and conversations from around the world to bring the story of the global freshwater crisis to life. Here you’ll find new water reports, news headlines, and hear from leading scientists.

Drink Water For LifeThe idea is simple. Drink water or other cheap beverages instead of expensive lattes, sodas, and bottled water for a set period of time. A day, a week, a month, Lent, Ramadan, Passover, or some other holiday period.

eFlowNet NewsletterFrom the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) this newsletter has lots of information about environmental flows and related issues.

Sustainable Water Resources RoundtableSince 2002, the Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) has brought together federal, state, corporate, non-profit and academic sectors to advance our understanding of the nation’s water resources and to develop tools for their sustainable management.